'Mother tongue key to child's full development'

Union Home Minister Amit Shah emphasized on Monday that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, is not merely a song but a profound effort to awaken Indian consciousness during a time of intense colonial oppression. Chattopadhyay's poetry aimed to awaken India's sleeping consciousness, and Vande Mataram soon became a symbol of freedom throughout India.

However, the national song was later divided into parts, and it took nearly 80 years after Independence for Parliament to fully accept it in its complete form as the national song. Shah highlighted that Prime Minister Modi took the initiative to restore Vande Mataram's full glory and to have it sung again at official functions during the 150th year of Chattopadhyay's birth and during the 6th All India Official Language Conference in Mumbai.

Shah underscored the importance of mother tongue in a child's full development, stating that no child can grow into a complete individual without learning their mother tongue. He argued that the affection of a mother and the love of a sister or brother cannot be fully comprehended without the richness of one's mother tongue. Shah urged everyone to set aside political differences and focus on promoting Indian languages, noting that entrance examinations like JEE, NEET, and undergraduate exams are now conducted in 13 languages.

He cautioned that those who oppose learning Indian languages do not understand the seriousness of their mistake. Shah argued that children should learn Indian languages, as learning a second Indian language automatically connects them with the goal of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat. He emphasized that the government aims to enrich every language of India and expressed confidence that the Hindi Shabd-Sindhu dictionary, which started with 51,000 words, would become the world's largest dictionary by 2029, growing to 800,000 words.

Shah highlighted that the government wants to make Indian languages integral to governance, science, and literature, and to connect Indian languages with one another to create a vast linguistic resource.